DEQ seeks input on Umatilla Chemical Depot waste disposal
The East Oregonian
Local residents will have an opportunity tonight to tell the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality how the Umatilla Chemical Depot should dispose of its secondary waste.
The depot's secondary waste includes wood pallets and protective suits, which depot crews use to process chemical munitions. The depot then incinerates the objects after use.
The meeting will start at 6 p.m. today at the depot's Outreach Office at 190 E. Main St. The DEQ wants to hear what citizens have to say when it comes to the depot using the best available technology for management of secondary waste at Umatilla Chemical Disposal Facility.
DEQ issued a hazardous waste permit to the depot's disposal facility to regulate the type and amount of wastes it may store and treat. The disposal facility submits all proposed revisions to the permit to DEQ for review and decision/acceptance via the permit modification process.
The DEQ held an initial public-comment period from Aug. 7-14, 2007 on the issue of how the depot should use the "best available technology" to dispose of its secondary waste. The state agency received eight comments.
Then on Jan. 8, 2008, the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission, which oversees the DEQ, instructed the DEQ's Chemical Demilitarization Program to reopen the public comment period on determining the best available technology for processing secondary waste at the facility. The Chemical Demil- itarization Program is in charge of monitoring the facility's hazardous waste and air quality permits.
Since September 2004, the facility has been disposing of chemical weapons at the U.S. Army's Umatilla Chemical Depot. Last year it completed the campaign to dispose of the depot's stockpile of GB nerve agent. Now the depot is processing munitions filled with VX nerve agent. |
